AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
![]() Sometimes it’s the muscle that’s shortening. One of the reasons that active flexibility is so important is that the limiting factor in our flexibility isn’t always the muscle that’s stretching. Light to medium pressure is sufficient in almost all cases and more pressure can just cause tears and strains.ģ. Unless you are extremely muscled you don’t want to be pushing super hard on your stretches. When it comes to passive stretching, more pressure does not mean more progress. It is extremely rare that you want to be completely relaxed in a stretch as this can compromise your joint alignment and you may miss the tightest muscles that really need the stretch.Ģ. ![]() When you are in a passive stretch you still need to engage your supporting muscles to hold your form. Don’t let the name fool you, passive flexibility isn’t all about relaxation. Important Factoids about Active vs Passive Flexibilityġ. FaB courses and Video on Demand service offer a variety of workouts combining the many approaches to stretching for optimal results. You will always have more passive flexibility than active flexibility, but it is our goal to minimize the difference in order to ensure the health of our joints and prevent injury. If there is a very big difference between your active and passive flexibility in any particular joint, incorporate more active exercises to decrease that difference. If you are experiencing joint pain, difficulty with strength movements, or you are struggling to make any progress in your flexibility quest you may not be doing enough active stretching. Too much passive stretching can create unstable joints, less useful flexibility, and possibly injury, especially in hypermobile people. Passive stretching is often over-emphasized because it is better-known. It is very important to find the proper balance between active and passive stretching for your body and your goals. Passive stretching will increase those two factors and facilitate a feeling of relaxation and decreased pain. Passive flexibility means that the resting length of your muscles and connective tissues is longer, and that your nervous system is comfortable with a larger range of motion. To find my passive flexibility in my hamstrings/back of the leg, I would pull gently on my leg with my hands or a yoga strap, or have a knowledgeable coach push the leg into a deeper stretch. Passive flexibility, using help to stretch, will almost always be greater than active flexibility. Passive flexibility is the amount that we can move into an end range with help from an external force, whether it’s pulling with a strap, pushing from a coach, or gravity pressing us to the floor as it does in a split. It is also valuable for preventing injuries and making sure that our flexibility is helpful and useful for our chosen activities. It’s important for addressing alignment, and correcting muscle imbalances that could be causing chronic tightness. Most of us aren’t used to strengthening our joints at our end range.Īctive flexibility is essential for building strength and flexibility together, and keeping our joints stable. Often active stretching doesn’t feel like a traditional stretch, it feels more like a strength exercise. So if I want to lengthen my hamstrings and the back of my leg, my active flexibility would be the amount that I could use my hip flexors to bring my leg closer to my body without touching it.Īctive flexibility is the measurement of the shortened muscles’ ability to contract when it gets very short, which can be very challenging at first. The active range is how far you can move into a stretch using your own muscles
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |